Travelers Welcome

Travelers Welcome

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Carved for the de’ Medici Tomb

by Mathew Richard Carter

Florence, Italy, the Uffizi Gallery
houses the great statue of David. In the hallway
that leads to where David stands are Michelangelo’s
“Four Slaves,” an unfinished endeavor. A blind priest
lurches toward the figures. Given permission, he is able
to feel the famous sculptures in their entirety,
every touch like a shaman restoring
strength to an ailing mammal. He
was no stranger to this procedure.

Observed in awe,
simultaneously amazed
and awakened within this
shockingly sensual act,
mesmerized
by the moment shared
here
between stone and man
and the implicit relation
between eyes and hands.

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